The aging process results in atrophy of the subcutaneous fat of the face. The skin looses its elasticity which along with the volume loss results in sagging and wrinkling of the facial skin. These changes can be found to occur in other parts of the body.
The traditional method for correcting the stigmata of dermatological aging is to excise, redrape and tighten the displaced skin. However, this approach does not adequately address the loss of volume and in some instances may exacerbate the appearance of aging. To address this concern, practitioners often use filler materials or implants placed under the skin's surface to reshape and re-volumize the contour. Numerous filler materials have been developed, however, in many aspects, grafted, autogenous fat is the ideal filler material. Fat cells are fragile and expiration of the cells may occur if they are not evenly distributed within the tissue and in small parcels. The current method of injecting filler materials is to manually inject using a syringe and needle (or cannula). This method is subject to human error and can result in uneven results, and in the case of fat, unpredictable survival.
Accordingly, there has been a long standing need in the discipline to devise systems and methods for addressing the problems discussed above.